tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/indigenous-welfare-19646/articlesIndigenous welfare – The Conversation2016-11-28T23:50:34Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/690442016-11-28T23:50:34Z2016-11-28T23:50:34ZSeeing Ms Dhu: how photographs argue for human rights<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147670/original/image-20161128-32049-1n035v0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A light graffiti image of Ms Dhu is projected on a building in Perth.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ethan Blue</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ms Dhu was a 22-year-old Yamatji woman who died in custody in the South Hedland Police Station in August 2014. Arrested for unpaid fines, she was already suffering from pneumonia and septicaemia caused by a broken rib, inflicted by her partner some months earlier. She became very ill overnight and died. </p>
<p>The 2015 coronial inquest into her death heard that police officers had believed that Ms Dhu was “faking”. At the inquest, footage was shown, reportedly revealing that police treated her roughly. Her family has asked that the CCTV footage of Ms Dhu’s final, agonising hours of life be released. So far, the <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-28/family-of-ms-dhu-criticise-coroners-decision-footage/7885962">coroner has refused this request</a>.</p>
<p>For her family, the grief of seeing their girl die is outweighed by the need to demonstrate the injustice of how she died. An internal police investigation into Ms Dhu’s case found that 11 police officers failed to comply with police procedures, but none were fired or suspended. </p>
<p>It is time that authorities listened to the Aboriginal people most closely concerned, and agreed to release this footage.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=450&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147672/original/image-20161128-32008-1xtl3xa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=566&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ms Dhu’s grandmother, Carol Roe (left), and mother, Della Roe, speak to the media before the inquest.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Angie Raphael/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ms Dhu’s family’s demand to make her treatment in prison public echoes the argument of many visual theorists today: if others are forced to undergo suffering and pain, surely the privileged observer has a moral duty to witness, acknowledge and respond to what they see? But even more than this obligation to witness injustice, today photographic evidence has come to stand as proof. </p>
<p>Critic Susan Sontag famously argued that “without photographs, there is no war” – meaning that we need to see distant events to be convinced of their reality. There is no doubt that such images have tremendous power, serving as witness to atrocity, heartbreak and injustice. Following WWII in particular, the horrors of war were effectively conveyed via photography – with the revelation of the treatment of Jews in concentration camps such as Buchenwald in April 1945 shocking the world.</p>
<p>However, such images are not straightforward in their effects. In Australia, as many Aboriginal people have argued, such imagery may disempower their subjects, showing them as abject, distant or less-than-human. For example, one of the most effective critiques of Aboriginal treatment during the 1950s was a film, <a href="http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=661042902941182;res=IELIND">Their Darkest Hour</a> (1957), made by West Australian MP William Grayden about Ngaanyatjarra people in the Warburton Ranges area, on the south-eastern fringe of the Gibson Desert. </p>
<p>This film included graphic, shocking imagery of ill and malnourished Aboriginal people. It successfully mobilised public concern across Australia and overseas well into the 1960s, contributing to a growing international concern about racial discrimination.</p>
<p>Specifically, it is credited with fuelling a wave of public support for the Aboriginal rights movement. This eventually led to the successful 1967 referendum to empower the Commonwealth in Aboriginal affairs. Yet, today, its subjects and their relatives resent the film’s shameful exposure of their lives and question the benefits that have ensued for them personally. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147671/original/image-20161128-32049-1q7zrsl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=501&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Light graffiti, Perth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ethan Blue</span></span>
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<p>Aboriginal people now demand control over their own representation, using photography to assert a strong identity. They demand change on the basis of rights, rather than pity, with its overtones of patronage and condescension. </p>
<p>The Bicentennial was a turning point that forced the nation to acknowledge Indigenous dissent, as protests and marches literally demonstrated their demands. Visual symbols such as the 1972 Tent Embassy, a stroke of media genius, could not be denied. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=399&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/147675/original/image-20161128-32012-15xlt34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=502&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The sovereignty sign at the Aboriginal tent embassy in Canberra repainted in January 2012 on the embassy’s 40th anniversary.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Porritt/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Last week, Queensland Aboriginal man Noel Pearson tapped into this history of imagining Aboriginal suffering, in <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/noel-pearson-lambasts-racist-abc-at-paul-keating-biography-launch-in-sydney-20161121-gsucm5.html">accusing the ABC of “racism”</a>. Pearson suggested that the ABC needs:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>blacks to remain alienated from mothers’ bosoms, incarcerated in legions, leading short lives of grief and tribulation – because if it were not so, against whom could they direct their soft bigotry of low expectations? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>But many advances in the status of Aboriginal Australians have been prompted by revealing atrocious conditions and ill-treatment. Most recently, the ABC’s Four Corners revelation of a pattern of abuse, deprivation and punishment of vulnerable children within the Don Dale youth detention centre aroused intense public sentiment, prompting an inquiry into juvenile detention in the Northern Territory.</p>
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<p>While we cannot – yet – see the CCTV footage of Ms Dhu’s treatment in custody, her family and supporters have tried to keep her presence alive in the city of Perth through clever use of light graffiti. Since 2015, they have been projecting night-time images of her face onto skyscrapers to assert her continuing memory and visibility. These storeys-high portraits of Ms Dhu and her family disrupt the urban landscape. </p>
<p>We believe that authorities must listen to her family and release the footage of Ms Dhu’s final hours. In revealing to all the injustice she suffered, her family hope that this graphic proof will arouse public opinion so that finally some good may come from her tragic death.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>An Indigenous-curated exhibition, Rightfully Ours, Rightfully Yours, will open at the Perth Centre for Photography on Thursday, December 8. This exhibition will focus specifically on photography and Indigenous rights in Australia. It will <a href="http://www.pcp.org.au">open alongside</a> a recreation of a historic photographic exhibition originally mounted by UNESCO in 1949 to explain the new Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These issues will also be the focus of the <a href="visualisinghumanrights.com.au">Visualising Human Rights Conference</a> on December 5-6 at the Maritime Museum in Fremantle.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jane Lydon receives funding from the Australian Research Council. She is on the Council of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Oxenham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Noel Pearson has accused the ABC of racism in dwelling on indigenous alienation. But many advances in the status of Aboriginal Australians have been prompted by revealing ill-treatment, which is why Ms Dhu's family want footage of her last hours made public.Jane Lydon, Wesfarmers Chair of Australian History, University of Western AustraliaDonna Oxenham, Research Assistant, University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646582016-09-05T09:25:05Z2016-09-05T09:25:05ZFactCheck Q&A: is $30 billion spent every year on 500,000 Indigenous people in Australia?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136040/original/image-20160831-826-1m964a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Chair of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, speaking on Q&amp;A, August 29, 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&amp;A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&amp;A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9.35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&amp;A, August 29, 2016. Watch from 2:35.</span></figcaption>
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<blockquote>
<p>We sat down with the Productivity Commission. We looked at the Indigenous space. $30 billion is spent in this space annually. $30 billion on 500,000 people and you still see the problems you get to see. What that tells me straightaway as a businessman, because I run my own business, is there’s a lot of fun and games going in there and we need to sort that out and we need to find out where the wastage of our funding is. – Chair of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4504647.htm">speaking on Q&amp;A</a>, August 29, 2016.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Chair of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, told Q&amp;A that $30 billion is spent every year on 500,000 Indigenous people in Australia. </p>
<p>Is that right?</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>When asked for sources to support his statement, Warren Mundine told The Conversation that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The figure covers Commonwealth, state and territory expenditure and includes direct Indigenous funding and indirect funding (eg welfare payments). The figures come from a direct presentation by the Productivity Commission to the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council meeting, which used their data from their reports.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Let’s check Mundine’s statement against original sources.</p>
<h2>The Productivity Commission reports</h2>
<p>The Productivity Commission creates two major reports of relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The first is the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/overcoming-indigenous-disadvantage">report</a>, which focuses on socioeconomic and well-being outcomes. </p>
<p>The second <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/indigenous-expenditure-report/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014.pdf">report</a>, titled the Indigenous Expenditure Report, attempts to identify the level of expenditure that relates to the Indigenous population. A key point in this 2014 report supports Mundine’s claim: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Total direct expenditure on services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in 2012-13 was estimated to be $30.3 billion, accounting for 6.1% of total direct general government expenditure. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same report also found that: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Estimated expenditure per person in 2012-13 was $43,449 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, compared with $20,900 for other Australians (a ratio of 2.08 to 1 — an increase from a ratio of 1.93 to 1 in 2008-09).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But how much of that $30.3 billion is spent on Indigenous-specific programs?</p>
<p>First, $5.7 billion of that amount comes from general government expenditure that has nothing specifically to do with Indigenous Australians (defence, foreign affairs and industry assistance), but is seen to benefit everyone.</p>
<p>Second, around one in five Indigenous Australians <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/indigenous-observatory/reports/health-and-welfare-2015/indigenous-population/">live in remote areas</a>, where the cost of providing many services is significantly higher. So, much of the spending is to achieve the same level of services that others are accustomed to (though arguably it fails to do so in many policy areas).</p>
<p>Third, Australia has a <a href="https://theconversation.com/who-really-benefits-from-australias-tax-and-social-security-system-48808">highly targeted social security system</a> with support based on family and individual circumstances. The Productivity Commission <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/indigenous-expenditure-report/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014.pdf">estimates</a> that 68.5% of the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous expenditure is “because of greater need, and because of the younger age profile of the population.”</p>
<p>Ultimately, the Productivity Commission estimates that only $5.6 billion or 18.6% of the total expenditure is provided through Indigenous-specific or targeted services, saying that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mainstream services accounted for $24.7 billion (81.4%) of direct Indigenous expenditure in 2012-13… with the remaining $5.6 billion (18.6%) provided through Indigenous-specific (targeted) services (a real decrease of $0.1 billion (1.2%) from 2008-09).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>What’s the difference between Indigenous-specific and mainstream services? <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/indigenous-expenditure-report/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014.pdf">According to</a> the Productivity Commission: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mainstream expenditure includes outlays on programs, services and payments that are available to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians on either a targeted or universal basis.</p>
<p>Indigenous-specific expenditure includes outlays on programs, services and payments that are explicitly targeted to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. These programs, services and payments can be either complementary (additional) to, or be substitutes (alternatives) for, mainstream services.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>How many Indigenous Australians are there?</h2>
<p>Was Warren Mundine correct to say that there are about 500,000 Indigenous Australians? Not quite – though to be fair, the estimates have varied in recent years.</p>
<p>The Productivity Commission’s 2014 Indigenous Expenditure <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/indigenous-expenditure-report/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014.pdf">Report</a>, which contains the figure of $30.3 billion, estimated that in June 2013 there were 698,309 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia. </p>
<p>The 2011 Census counted about 550,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. However, many Indigenous Australians are missed from the Census, and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/9E334CF07B4EEC17CA2570A5000BFE00?OpenDocument">estimates</a> that there were around 670,000 Indigenous Australians in the country on the night of the 2011 Census.</p>
<p>Taking into account their best estimate of births and deaths since then, the ABS has then projected the Indigenous population to be around <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/latestProducts/3238.0.55.001Media%20Release1June%202011">669,000 in June 2013</a> (the year the Productivity Commission data relates to) and around 750,000 in 2016.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=362&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=362&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=362&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=455&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=455&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136543/original/image-20160905-25149-1w5g40q.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=455&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/AEE5C09DB715A1BBCA257CC900143F80/%24File/aboriginal%20and%20torres%20strait%20islander%20population%20projections%20fact%20sheet.pdf">ABS</a></span>
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<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Warren Mundine’s statement uses the most accurate and up-to-date estimate of government spending on Indigenous Australians – about $30.3 billion, according to the Productivity Commission. </p>
<p>However, only a small proportion of the overall Indigenous expenditure is on Indigenous-specific programs. The rest comprises the cost of providing mainstream services, such as schooling and health care, that all Australians enjoy. </p>
<p>His figure of 500,000 Indigenous Australians is a bit low, likely reflecting reasonably common uncertainty on this question (as well as him being on the spot on a fast-paced, live TV program).</p>
<p>The general point about needing “to find out where the wastage of our funding is” is important, and requires careful evaluation of the impact and cost-effectiveness of Indigenous-specific and other social programs. <strong>– Nicholas Biddle.</strong> </p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>I have reviewed this FactCheck. Mundine was right on the figure of $30 billion; total direct expenditure on services for Indigenous Australians in 2012-13 was estimated to be $30.3 billion, as detailed on page one of the Productivity Commission’s 2014 <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/indigenous-expenditure-report/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014/indigenous-expenditure-report-2014.pdf">report</a>. Based on the <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2075.0main+features32011">2011 Census</a>, the Indigenous population was approximately 550,000 people, with most living in urban areas. Researcher Sara Hudson’s August 2016 <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/publications/research-reports/mapping-the-indigenous-program-and-funding-maze">report</a>, published by the Centre for Independent Studies, outlines the continued waste and duplication of government funding as raised by Mundine. <strong>– Dennis Foley.</strong></p>
<p>While it’s true Warren Mundine used the most up-to-date figures, his quote didn’t quite convey the full story. It didn’t get across the fact that only a really small chunk of the overall Indigenous spending is on Indigenous-specific programs. Most is on mainstream programs.</p>
<p>As the article notes, Productivity Commission estimates that only $5.6 billion or 18.6% of the $30 billion Mundine refers to is provided through Indigenous-specific or targeted services. The Productivity Commission does not examine how much of this $5.6 billion actually goes to Indigenous organisations within community or Indigenous peoples themselves – and how much is spent on government businesses.</p>
<p>Warren Mundine’s broader point that current spending is not yielding results needs further attention. The government’s <a href="http://closingthegap.dpmc.gov.au/">Closing the Gap</a> targets are nowhere near being met, and in some cases, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-02/close-the-gap-report-shows-majority-of-targets-not-met/6995352">widening</a>, suggesting that these programs are, by and large, failing. Policy logic underpinning spending should be examined. <strong>– Elise Klein.</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64658/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Biddle works in a centre at the ANU that receives funding from Commonwealth and State/Territory governments to research Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander demographic and socioeconomic outcomes.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis Foley is an Indigenous Australian researcher who has received funding from the Australian Research Council. He has held two Australian Government Endeavour Fellowships and an Australian-American Fulbright Fellowship funded by the Australian federal government. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Klein receives funding from the University of Melbourne. She is a member of the Australian Greens. </span></em></p>Chair of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, told Q&A that $30 billion is spent every year on 500,000 Indigenous people in Australia. Is that right?Nicholas Biddle, Fellow, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/548252016-02-22T00:45:37Z2016-02-22T00:45:37ZFactCheck Q&A: are Indigenous children ten times more likely to be living in out-of-home care?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/111721/original/image-20160217-24635-admnmf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, speaking on Q&amp;A, February 15, 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q&amp;A</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&amp;A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9.35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via <a href="http://www.twitter.com/conversationEDU">Twitter</a> using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/conversationEDU">Facebook</a> or by <a href="mailto:checkit@theconversation.edu.au">email</a>.</strong></p>
<hr>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b3EAuQEV-hk?wmode=transparent&amp;start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Excerpt from Q&amp;A, February 15, 2016.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<blockquote>
<p>You know, Indigenous children at the moment are 10 times more likely to be living out of home right now. – Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s4398246.htm">speaking on Q&amp;A</a>, February 15, 2016.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Comments by broadcaster <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/2gb-broadcaster-alan-jones-says-we-need-stolen-generations-20160215-gmubhk.html">Alan Jones on the Stolen Generation</a> have refocused public attention on the rate at which Indigenous Australian children are placed in out-of-home care.</p>
<p>Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young recently told Q&amp;A that Indigenous children are 10 times more likely to be living out of home (compared to non-Indigenous children).</p>
<p>Is that accurate?</p>
<h2>Checking the source</h2>
<p>When asked for a data source to support her assertion, a spokesman for Hanson-Young sent the following by email:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The figure came from the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Out_of_home_care/Report">Out of Home care report</a> tabled August 19, 2015 by the Community Affairs References Committee. It can be found in <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Out_of_home_care/Report/c01">Chapter 1, Introduction 1.2</a> of the report.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>You can read the <a href="http://theconversation.com/response-from-spokesperson-for-sarah-hanson-young-54883">full response</a> here. </p>
<p>That Out of Home Care report notes that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are almost 10 times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care than their peers.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So Hanson-Young is close to the mark. The rate is “almost ten times more likely”, according to the source she used.</p>
<h2>Checking other data</h2>
<p>The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) is the national body responsible for compiling the data from all the states and territories on child protection and out-of-home care. </p>
<p>Their most recent report on this issue, <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129550762">Child Protection Australia 2013–14</a>, indicates that Indigenous children (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) are 9.2 times as likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children in Australia. </p>
<p>So it’s nearly ten, but not quite. But <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/child-protection-and-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-children">missing data</a> on Indigenous status means that figure may be an underestimate. And for young children, the rate disparity is even higher, with Indigenous children <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">aged one to four years being 11.1 times as likely</a> as non-Indigenous children to be in out-of-home care.</p>
<p>In 2014, a total 43,009 children aged 0–17 were in out-of-home care in Australia (as at June 30), the AIHW data showed. Some 14,991 – or nearly 35% – of these children were Indigenous.</p>
<p>The highest number of Indigenous children in care in Australia live in New South Wales (6,520 children), but the highest rate ratio of Indigenous to non-Indigenous children is in Western Australia, where <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">Indigenous children are 15.5 as likely as non-Indigenous children to be in out-of-home care</a>. The rate ratio was <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">lowest in Tasmania</a>, at 2.9.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112073/original/image-20160219-1274-1ixapqy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112073/original/image-20160219-1274-1ixapqy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=359&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112073/original/image-20160219-1274-1ixapqy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=359&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112073/original/image-20160219-1274-1ixapqy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=359&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112073/original/image-20160219-1274-1ixapqy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=451&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112073/original/image-20160219-1274-1ixapqy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=451&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112073/original/image-20160219-1274-1ixapqy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=451&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How are the trends changing over time?</h2>
<p>The problem is getting worse, and it is getting worse faster for Indigenous children than it is for non-Indigenous children. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">noted</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a steady rise in the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care has largely driven the overall increase in the number of children in out-of-home care… The rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children placed in out-of-home care has risen steadily since 2010, from 40.4 to 51.4 per 1,000 children, while the non-Indigenous rate has risen slightly from 5.1 to 5.6 per 1,000 children.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=507&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=507&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=507&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=637&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=637&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/112036/original/image-20160218-1283-yvjmoi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=637&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">Child protection Australia report, 2013–14, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why are more Indigenous children in out-of-home care?</h2>
<p>The main reasons for being placed in out-of-home care are: physical, sexual, emotional abuse and/or neglect. The <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">AIHW report notes</a> that in 2013-14:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Overall, the most common type of substantiated abuse for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children was neglect, which represented 41% of substantiations (compared with 22% for non-Indigenous children)… Across all jurisdictions, sexual abuse was the least common type of substantiation for
Indigenous children (9%). </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554513">reasons for the over-representation of Indigenous children in child protection</a> substantiations are complex, as the AIHW report explains:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The legacy of past policies of forced removal; inter-generational effects of previous separations from family and culture; lower socio-economic status; and perceptions arising from cultural differences in child-rearing practices are all underlying causes for their over-representation in the child welfare system. Drug and alcohol abuse and family violence may also be contributing factors.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Out_of_home_care/Report">Senate inquiry into out-of-home care</a> reports examples of failure to understand cultural practices leading to findings of neglect and removal of children. For example, one expert told the inquiry:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… a community was very distressed that children were taken away after a
child protection visit around neglect. The worker visited and had a look in
the cupboards and there was no food, and there was no food in the fridge,
and, of course, the children were neglected!… The worker was without the thought, understanding and knowing that everyone eats [at] Auntie Elsie’s place and that no one else needs to have the food in the house because they live as a communal family.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The ongoing removal of Indigenous children has led community groups such as <a href="http://stopstolengenerations.com.au/">Grandmothers Against Removals</a> and peak Indigenous agencies such as the <a href="http://www.snaicc.org.au/">Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care</a> to call for reform.</p>
<h2>Where do these children live when they are in out-of-home care?</h2>
<p>The AIHW report noted that, in 2013–14, 67% of Indigenous children were placed with relatives or kin, other Indigenous caregivers or in Indigenous residential care; this proportion is similar to that reported in previous years. </p>
<p>There are <a href="http://snaicc.org.au/_uploads/rsfil/02727.pdf">accounts</a> of departmental failure to locate suitable kin as a result of the department not being well-connected to community.</p>
<h2>How well do Indigenous children do in out-of-home care?</h2>
<p>Indigenous children and young people are strongly over-represented in both out-of-home care and juvenile justice detention, even more so in juvenile detention – <a href="http://www.pc.gov.au/research/ongoing/report-on-government-services/indigenous-compendium-2015/indigenous-compendium-2015.pdf">especially in Western Australia</a>.</p>
<p>If young people have been in out-of-home care or on a care and protection order, they are <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129554445">23 times as likely as the general population</a> to be in detention in the same year.</p>
<p>A large-scale ongoing longitudinal study of children who entered care on first-time orders in New South Wales over an 18-month period, <a href="http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/pathways/index.htm">Pathways of Care</a>, will help to provide solid evidence to answer some of these questions about how well all children fare in care.</p>
<h2>Verdict</h2>
<p>Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young is close to the mark to say Indigenous children are 10 times more likely to be living in out-of-home care (compared with non-Indigenous children). The source she referred has the figure at “almost 10 times more likely”, while the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare says the latest figure (June 2014) is closer to 9.2 times as likely. <strong>– Judy Cashmore and Teresa Libesman</strong></p>
<hr>
<h2>Review</h2>
<p>This a sound analysis. I would further add that the true picture of disadvantage experienced by many children and young people in out of home care, as demonstrated most profoundly by the statistics regarding Indigenous children, is clearly shown when one considers engagement in criminal activity. </p>
<p>Approximately one in 10 young people involved with the criminal justice system in NSW were also in <a href="http://www.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/Documents/CJB/Report-2016-Can-child-protection-data-improve-the-prediction-of-reoffending-in-young-persons-cjb188.pdf">care</a> and similar <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=60129554443">over-representation rates</a> have been reported nationally. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/crc/docs/co/CRC_C_AUS_CO_4.pdf">United Nations</a> has expressed serious concerns at “widespread reports of inadequacies and abuse” within Australia’s care system, drawing particular attention to the inappropriate placements of children, inadequate screening, training, support and assessment of carers and the mental health issues “exacerbated by (or caused in) care”.</p>
<p>It has concluded that young people in care have much poorer outcomes compared to general population in terms of health, education, well-being and development. <strong>– Katherine McFarlane</strong></p>
<hr>
<p><div class="callout"> Have you ever seen a “fact” worth checking? The Conversation’s FactCheck asks academic experts to test claims and see how true they are. We then ask a second academic to review an anonymous copy of the article. You can request a check at checkit@theconversation.edu.au. Please include the statement you would like us to check, the date it was made, and a link if possible.</div></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54825/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Judy Cashmore is adviser to the Pathways of Care study and is currently working on an ARC Discovery grant on decision-making in Children’s Court child protection matters.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>In 2010, as a lecturer in Justice Studies at Charles Sturt University, Katherine McFarlane was the Chief Investigator for a NSW Government-awarded tender ($50,000) to Charles Sturt University. This project examined bail practices affecting children and young people and discussed, among other issues, the prevalence of young people in out of home care in the criminal justice system. Between April 2011-Dec 2015, Katherine McFarlane was Chief of Staff to a NSW State Minister, in the various portfolios of Planning and Infrastructure, Juvenile Justice, Corrections, Attorney General, Family and Community Services and Social Housing.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terri Libesman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sarah Hanson-Young told Q&A that Indigenous children are currently ten times more likely to be living out of home. Is that right?Judy Cashmore, Professor of Socio-Legal Research and Policy, University of SydneyTerri Libesman, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/507562015-11-19T02:57:39Z2015-11-19T02:57:39ZHealthy Welfare Card begins here ... where next?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/101983/original/image-20151116-26090-1ugsn6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do Ceduna and the other trial sites for the Healthy Welfare Card have in common? All are country towns with a mix of Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Ceduna%2C_South_Australia.jpg">Wikimedia Commons/Nachoman-au</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Given the high profile of Indigenous disadvantage, is it a coincidence that certain welfare reforms first appear in Indigenous communities before being mainstreamed?</p>
<p>Under income management, a portion of a welfare payment is restricted in how it can be spent rather than being paid directly in cash. The Commonwealth <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2011-2012/IncomeManagementOverview">first introduced compulsory income management</a> to 73 remote Indigenous communities under the Northern Territory Intervention in 2007.</p>
<p>In 2010, income management was extended to non-Indigenous welfare recipients in the territory. <a href="http://caepr.anu.edu.au/others/Report-1418859519.php">More than 90%</a> of recipients, however, were still Indigenous. </p>
<p>In 2012, the government began rolling out trials to <a href="http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/income-management/about-income-management#a4">depressed regional centres</a> across Australia, including Bankstown, Shepparton, Logan, Playford and Rockhampton. The difference was that income management was now subject to referrals, instead of compulsory. Indigenous recipients were now in the minority – <a href="https://data.gov.au/dataset/3b1f1fb7-adb5-48ea-8305-9205df0a298c/resource/bceeda43-d289-4cf4-86ec-b82e50361dc0/download/incomemanagementsummary2january2015.pdf">more than 80%</a> were non-Indigenous.</p>
<h2>Universal policy was Forrest Review goal</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=851&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=851&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=851&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1069&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1069&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102000/original/image-20151116-4970-zdsl02.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=1069&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Creating Parity review recommended that income management smartcards be applied to most welfare recipients.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://indigenousjobsandtrainingreview.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/files/3838%20Forrest%20Review%20Update%20-%20Full%20Report%20-%20Complete%20PDF%20PRO1.pdf">Commonwealth</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If the Coalition government implements the recommendations of its <a href="https://indigenousjobsandtrainingreview.dpmc.gov.au/forrest-review">Forrest Review</a>, aimed at “creating parity” between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, the same trajectory may be proposed for the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-cashless-welfare-card-trial-will-leave-us-none-the-wiser-49360">cashless smartcard</a> called the <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/cashless-welfare-card-tackles-family-violence/story-fn9hm1pm-1227610073388?sv=97512b273a22b6d248b29dfa9a896dc2">Healthy Welfare Card</a>. </p>
<p>Although the review explicitly focused on Indigenous disadvantage, Andrew Forrest was uninhibited in making his recommendations <a href="https://indigenousjobsandtrainingreview.dpmc.gov.au/how-healthy-welfare-card-would-work">apply to all</a> “vulnerable” Australians.</p>
<p>As with the <a href="http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/enablers/centrelink/income-management/basicscard">BasicsCard</a> used for compulsory income management in NT Aboriginal communities from 2008, Forrest recommended that Healthy Welfare Cards be mandatory for all unemployed persons, carers, single parents and people with disabilities. </p>
<p>Essentially, that would be everyone except veterans and aged pensioners. Alert to the implications for the rest of Australia, the Australian Council of Social Service immediately <a href="http://www.acoss.org.au/media_release/groups_call_for_rejection_of_forrest_review_healthy_welfare_card/">opposed the move</a>.</p>
<p>The parliamentary secretary responsible for implementing the policy, Alan Tudge, <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2Ffd2f3451-f05d-425a-9815-471294607839%2F0009%22">has said</a> that trial sites were:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… selected on the basis of high levels of welfare dependence, where gambling, alcohol and illegal drug abuse are causing unacceptable levels of harm and there is an openness to participate from within the community.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It went unsaid that this involved sites with high numbers of Indigenous people, along with sufficient leadership and public support to back the trials.</p>
<h2>Trials involve a certain kind of town</h2>
<p>The locations first <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/trial-communities-back-no-grog-cashless-welfare-cards/story-fn9hm1pm-1227395552860?sv=44ea10098c0cbf2cb26e8422791a9a1c">mooted for the card rollout</a> – Kununurra, Moree and Ceduna – are country towns with freehold title, with Indigenous populations roughly one-quarter to one-third of the total. These towns face serious social problems, in addition to those related to welfare reform, which demand a coordinated government response.</p>
<p>After community objections emerged, Moree <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4279891.htm">was dropped</a>. It was replaced with Halls Creek, also a rural town, but with a population that is about 75% Indigenous. After <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/indigenous-communities-against-trials-of-cashless-welfare-card/story-e6frg6zo-1227565185570">divisions</a> emerged it too was dropped. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the government appears to be choosing trial sites from the small pool of towns (roughly 50 in number) with a mixed Indigenous and non-Indigenous population (25-75% Indigenous). The vast majority of towns in Australia are either overwhelmingly Indigenous (more than 75%) or overwhelmingly non-Indigenous (less than 25% Indigenous).</p>
<p>This week the government announced that the third trial site would be <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/indigenous/hope-for-kids-in-the-welfare-cards-say-indigenous-elders/story-fn9hm1pm-1227611508691?sv=dd6c583595cc88764875c9025de23240">Wyndham</a>. Again, it’s a rural town where the Indigenous population is just over 50%.</p>
<p>If the Healthy Welfare Card is an Indigenous reform, why target these mixed country towns instead of Indigenous communities? We can think of two explanations.</p>
<p>First, the government must apply the reform equally to non-Indigenous welfare recipients to avoid accusations of targeting Indigenous people and facing charges of racial discrimination. Even in Ceduna, where only 25% of the population is Indigenous, Indigenous people still constitute <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Debit_Card_Trial/Report">an estimated 72%</a> of welfare recipients. In <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Debit_Card_Trial/Submissions">his submission</a> to a Senate inquiry into the trial, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda warned:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In view of these percentages, the trial may have a disproportionate impact upon Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in these locations.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The second explanation is that the Healthy Welfare Card is not an Indigenous reform at all, but intended for all Australians. On this view, the government is using the tragic circumstances of Indigenous disadvantage to legitimise a universal reform not otherwise palatable to the public. </p>
<p>Would the same public approval exist for trials in a non-Indigenous “population of high levels of welfare dependence” with “gambling, alcohol and illegal drug abuse” problems? Are the only people who fit this profile Indigenous? </p>
<p>Why not apply the trials as an extension to income management trials (Bankstown, Shepparton, Logan, Playford or Rockhampton), which already include a large number of non-Indigenous welfare recipients?</p>
<h2>So where is this policy headed?</h2>
<p>In understanding the battlefield of Indigenous affairs, it always helps to look backwards. When the Howard government launched the NT Intervention in mid-2007, it <a href="https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/racial_discrimination/publications/rda-nter/NTERandRDAPublication12%20December2011.pdf">suspended the Racial Discrimination Act</a>. That removed the possibility of a legal rights challenge.</p>
<p>Only after income management was applied equally to all unemployed citizens in the territory did the Rudd-Gillard government reinstate the act in 2010. This then allowed the <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/library/prspub/1511200/upload_binary/1511200.pdf;fileType=application/pdf">spread of “race-neutral” income management</a> to other parts of Australia.</p>
<p>Suspending the act required a huge political alignment. This was largely legitimated by the crisis of child abuse in the Northern Territory, including claims of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/national/pedophile-ring-claims-unfounded-20090704-d8h9.html">paedophile rings</a>, which were later discredited. It would be very difficult for any government to achieve such moralistic bipartisan support again.</p>
<p>So does the government need a work-around by seeking out trial sites that are mixed rural towns with significant Indigenous populations? </p>
<p>The government is walking a fine line here. It must not be seen to single out Indigenous people, but, at the same time, it invokes the crisis of Indigenous disadvantage to legitimate the reform. </p>
<p>Is the Healthy Welfare Card an Indigenous reform or a universal reform in disguise? Let’s call it what it is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50756/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Moran receives funding from an Australian Research Council Indigenous Discovery grant.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carroll Go-Sam receives funding from Australian Research Council Discovery Indigenous Grant. </span></em></p>Income management was first applied to Indigenous communities before being implemented more widely. The Healthy Welfare Card policy appears to be on this same path.Mark Moran, Chair of Development Effectiveness, The University of QueenslandCarroll Go-Sam, ARC Discovery Indigenous Award Researcher, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/463472015-08-20T02:17:56Z2015-08-20T02:17:56ZAustralia's changing profile: fewer divorces, higher incomes, more rental stress<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92405/original/image-20150819-10836-t146je.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=496&amp;fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australians are living and working longer, marrying later and earning more that past generations.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hamedmasoumi/3747165802/in/photolist-6H8cQW-7PJQNQ-7gRgPz-4uoqDy-8Reb3T-FvR7p-oKnXqX-hMojwm-aVgMt-hMoiQm-asMv8U-dTPAkr-rZLG2-7XA9nB-6PGVE3-aVhf3-voutTi-pripqq-aZt9ox-9h8GP4-cT2JXb-7XA9iX-aVhu6-e5ZoYz-yP9Yf-6z2y7i-7ama9u-7f1hwD-7Zv3ct-mrcfLX-3E47nj-6vdmeV-aVh74-oZH8qk-v1DB7W-dAy34r-5VBc2N-vhHw2-2jzAER-rjF45-ghW7DJ-pE3d4Q-58vVdb-byz9Wt-9ewWeV-682rDg-aKZJu-dNMXcF-kexRXr-ke9CfH">Hamed Masoumi/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Divorce rates are on the decline in Australia, people are marrying and having children later in life, and more of us live alone, according to a <a href="http://www.aihw.gov.au/publication-detail/?id=60129552015">new report</a> by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.</p>
<p>We’re also better educated, with more adults participating in the workforce than a decade ago. But many of us are in mortgage debt and experiencing rental stress.</p>
<p>Released today, the biennial report card on Australia’s welfare shows the increased number of Australians above retirement age may have added to Australia’s welfare expenditure, with a rise of 2.6% recorded annually between 2003 and 2013. But this increase was slower than the growth of Australia’s economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 2.9% in the same period.</p>
<p>Overall, labour force participation rates for people between 15 and 64 rose in the past 20 years from 73% in 1992 to 76% in 2014. Women drove much of the change with female workforce participation rising from 62% to 71% over the same period. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=237&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=631&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=631&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=631&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=793&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=793&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92367/original/image-20150819-10863-a1x0fg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=793&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.aihw.gov.au">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On average, Australians are earning more. In 2011, the average disposable household income for people living in private housing was A$918 per week, compared with A$894 in 2009.</p>
<p>But some Australians aren’t reaping the same rewards. Youth unemployment is on the rise and Indigenous Australians are over-represented in welfare payments.</p>
<p>The report also found: </p>
<ul>
<li>In 2012, nearly 50% of Indigenous Australians reported government payments as their principal source of income. This was more than three times the rate for non-Indigenous people (16%). However, the proportion is lower than in 2002, when it was 63% for Indigenous people. </li>
<li>Indigenous children are more than twice as likely as non-Indigenous to be assessed as developmentally vulnerable when they enter their first year of schooling. But this decreased from 47% in 2009 to 43% in 2012.</li>
<li>In 2013–14 Indigenous children were receiving child protection services at seven times the rate of non-Indigenous children.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Conversation’s experts dig deeper into the report’s findings on changing family structures, welfare expenditure and home ownership.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Welfare spending</h2>
<p><strong>Nicholas Biddle, Quantitative Social Scientist at Australian National University</strong></p>
<p>Although welfare expenditure has increased as a share of tax revenue, the AIHW reports that: “welfare expenditure fell from 9.5% of GDP in 2003–04 to 9.0% in 2012–13”.</p>
<p>On the one hand, this is good news. We are spending less on income support, which allows us to spend more on education, health, leisure and other things that make life worth living. </p>
<p>There are important caveats to this story though, particularly when you drill down into the data. First, welfare spending has increased as a share of taxation revenue, from 32.8% in 2003-04 to 34% in 2012-13. </p>
<p>More importantly though, many would only consider the fall as a percentage of GDP as a good news story if it was the result of people no longer needing the support. Here the data is less positive. More people are working but more people are also struggling to find work. </p>
<p>In June 2004, the unemployment rate was 5.5%. In June 2013 it was 5.7% and it is <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6202.0">now 6.1%</a>. And the youth labour force participation has declined from 71% in 2008 to 67% in 2014. And we all know the population is ageing so the number of people of pension age is also increasing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=278&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=278&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=278&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=350&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=350&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92470/original/image-20150820-32454-lxr4pk.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=350&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://aihw.gov.au">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2015</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How are we spending less on welfare when more people are looking for work and more are of retirement age? Well, simply, the payment rate for many benefits <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_Employment_and_Workplace_Relations/Completed_inquiries/2010-13/newstartallowance/report/index">has not kept up</a> with income growth. </p>
<p>This raises a different policy discussion to the one we often have. Welfare isn’t <a href="http://www.afr.com/opinion/welfare-blowout-doesnt-add-up-20140123-iy7fm">“blowing out”</a> as some have claimed. Rather, Australia has a <a href="http://insidestory.org.au/the-budget-fairness-and-class-warfare/">highly targeted welfare system</a> with a very high share of spending devoted to the poor.</p>
<p>The policy question is whether we are spending enough on those who really need it.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Home ownership</h2>
<p><strong>Kate Shaw, Future Fellow in Urban Geography and Planning at the University of Melbourne</strong></p>
<p>Australia performs well on many measures – we are well educated and living longer than before, as should be expected in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. But fewer Australians own their home outright (from 42% in 1995 to 31% in 2011), more have a mortgage (from 30% in 1994 to 37% in 2011), more are renting, more are in mortgage and rental stress, and more of us are homeless. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=348&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=348&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=348&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=438&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=438&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92380/original/image-20150819-10847-1am5hmx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=438&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://aihw.gov.au">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An unaffordable housing market is not a natural consequence of Australia’s wealth. It is a direct result of policy decisions over the last two decades that have favoured property owners over renters and caused house prices to outstrip wages. A median-priced house in Melbourne or Sydney now requires up to ten times the median income. This situation entrenches privilege and exacerbates income inequality. </p>
<p>Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF) now <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=42986.0">admits</a> that “when the rich get richer, benefits do not trickle down”. The IMF advocates increasing the income share of the poor and the middle class as the most effective way to increase economic growth. This IMF <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=42986.0">report</a> says the best way to tackle inequality is to “focus on raising human capital and skills and making tax systems more progressive”.</p>
<p>To raise human capital, we need to ensure a range of secure, affordable housing types and invest in training and job creation programs.</p>
<p>To make Australia’s tax system more progressive, we need (at least) to phase out negative gearing and the discount on capital gains tax on investment properties (and not increase the GST).</p>
<p>Removing tax incentives for investment properties would not only provide billions of dollars for public, community and other non-profit housing initiatives, it would dampen the investor frenzy pushing prices well beyond the reach of first home-buyers. </p>
<p>But the government knows all this.</p>
<hr>
<h2>Family structure</h2>
<p><strong>Nick Parr, Associate Professor in Demography at Macquarie University</strong></p>
<p>Australia’s growing and ageing population, as well as the increase in the percentage of people born overseas, are interconnected trends.</p>
<p>Between 2004 and 2014, Australia’s overseas-born population grew from 4.8 to 6.6 million. As well as immediately increasing the numbers born overseas, immigration contributes to Australia’s population <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-our-big-australia-is-getting-bigger-20846">growth</a> by adding to birth numbers. But the numbers of children per migrant are now <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/F41B99AB234B2074CA25792F00161838?OpenDocument">smaller</a> than those of Australian-born people.</p>
<p>Overall, these factors are expected to result in <a href="https://theconversation.com/population-growth-could-go-far-beyond-igr-projections-38490">huge</a> increases to the Australian <a href="http://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol31/11/">population</a>.</p>
<p>The report also shows people marrying later and more living alone. In 2012, nearly one quarter (23%) of all households had one resident. This is compared to just 11% in 1961.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=267&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=267&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=600&amp;h=267&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=335&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=30&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=335&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/92370/original/image-20150819-10879-1xysker.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=15&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;h=335&amp;fit=crop&amp;dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://aihw.gov.au">Australian Institute of Health and Welfare</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Factors contributing to this include increasing numbers of people whose relationship or marriage has ended, or who have not partnered; and older people who are widowed.</p>
<p>Australia’s divorce rate dropped from 2.7 per 1,000 people in 2003 to 2.1 per 1,000 in 2013. Declining divorce rates since 2001 among those under the age of 45 may be linked to the postponement of <a href="http://jos.sagepub.com/content/41/2/163.short">marriage</a> and the greater financial resources of those who are married.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Divorce rates are on the decline in Australia, people are marrying and having children later in life, and more of us live alone. Our experts respond to the new report on Australia's welfare.Kate Shaw, Future Fellow, University of MelbourneNicholas Biddle, Fellow, Australian National University, Australian National UniversityNick Parr, Associate Professor in Demography, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.